Overview of Aussie hospitalisations
More than a quarter of Australia’s 8.9 million hospitalisations in 2010–11 included a visit to an operating room for surgery, according to a new surgery snapshot released last week by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
More than a quarter of Australia’s 8.9 million hospitalisations in 2010–11 included a visit to an operating room for surgery, according to a new surgery snapshot released last week by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The snapshot bulletin, Surgery in Australian Hospitals 2010–11, provides an overview of Australia’s 2.4 million annual hospitalisations for surgery, based on data first published by the AIHW in April.
About 1.0 million surgery hospitalisations occurred in public hospitals and 1.4 million in private hospitals.
In the five years to 2011, admissions involving surgery have risen 2.4% a year in public hospitals and 4.1% a year in private hospitals. But in the last year, annual growth in surgery admissions in public hospitals has outstripped annual growth in private hospitals 2.7% to 2.1%.
AIHW spokesperson, Alison Verhoeven, claims this is likely reflective of a “renewed emphasis” by all levels of government to reduce elective surgery backlogs in public hospitals.
About 12% of surgery admissions were emergency admissions (requiring surgery within 24 hours) and about 83% were elective admissions, with two-thirds of these occurring in private hospitals. A further 4% of surgery-related admissions are childbirth-related and 1% is for ‘other planned care’.
Compared with national rates, Indigenous Australians and people living in remote areas have higher rates of emergency surgery admissions and lower rates of elective surgery admissions.
The most common reasons for emergency surgery admission are appendicitis, hip fractures and heart attacks, followed closely by leg fractures.
For elective surgery admissions, the most common reasons are cataracts, skin cancers, knee disorders and procreative management (including IVF).
Just more than 50% of surgery hospitalisations are same-day admissions. For overnight surgery admissions, the average length of stay is about four days in public hospitals and three days in private hospitals.
